Sunday, November 13, 2016

I have 720 people with census records already downloaded and filed, with transcriptions in Research Notes but not entered under Events yet. This will take me a few more months to complete if I work at it consistently.

Then I'll be able to look for records I don't have yet. I'm already looking ahead at how to do this most effectively. Obviously my closer relatives have higher priority.

The plan is to go by generation from my parents at _01 and moving backwards.

I already have census records for my parents so I'll start at my grandparents. A lot of this is already done but I'm sure there are holes and the idea is to fill in the holes as I work my way further back.

In Legacy Family Tree, under Focus Group Search, click "Add an Individual and Descendants". Then tag the list.

Then, go to Search/Census List and start with 1940 for the census year.

Then Search within these results by the tag number above using the radio button for "Only search the Search List".

Tag these on a different number.

Repeat for 1930, 1920, 1910 and so on until there are no more results.

Then go find whatever can be found. I use FamilySearch and have "Search Internet for Current Person" set up to go directly there. I previously wrote a post about how to set up a search parameter. It can be downloaded from Dropbox here if you'd like to customize the original for FamilySearch that's already in the defaults.

When I've completed those descendants, move on to the next marriage and repeat the whole process.

No matter how far I get, and it does look daunting, at least my closer relatives have the best shot at being completed. The 5th cousins four times removed, maybe not.